NDLEA Honours GAIYD, 18 Others for Anti-Drug Campaign

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has honoured the Great Achievers Initiative for Youth and Community Development (GAIYD) and 18 other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for their contributions to the fight against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking in Nigeria.

GAIYD received the recognition at the 12th Chairman/Chief Executive Officer’s Commendations and Awards Ceremony held at the NDLEA national headquarters in Abuja last week.

The organisation, which focuses on youth empowerment, skills development, mentorship and community development, was recognised for its advocacy and efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, particularly among young people and vulnerable communities.

Speaking on the recognition, GAIYD Founder and National President, Dr Hillary Akpua, described the award as a boost to the organisation’s work, saying it would motivate the group to intensify its advocacy at the grassroots.

“This recognition is a boost; we are not taking it for granted. This will spur us to do more and ensure that the message about drug abuse and addiction is taken to more boys at the grassroots, where we have more victims of this menace,” Akpua said.

He said the recognition meant more to the organisation than an award, describing it as encouragement to continue educating young people, creating awareness, supporting communities and contributing to efforts aimed at preventing substance abuse.

Akpua added that young people must remain central to the national conversation on drug abuse, stressing that tackling the problem required collective action.

“The fight against drug abuse is a shared responsibility, and we believe young people must be at the centre of that conversation,” he said.

He thanked the NDLEA for recognising organisations contributing to the anti-drug campaign and pledged that GAIYD would build on the recognition to expand its work.

“We celebrate this moment, but we know there is still more work to be done,” Akpua said.

The award came as the NDLEA renewed its call for stronger collaboration with civil society organisations and the media, with its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), stressing that enforcement alone could not end drug trafficking and substance abuse.

Marwa, who spoke at the ceremony, said NGOs and media organisations had become critical partners in taking the agency’s anti-drug campaign into communities, schools and homes.

“The fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse was never going to be won by enforcement alone. It is won in the communities where NGOs quietly walk young people back from the edge of addiction,” he said.

He said civil society and media partners had helped to extend the reach of the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, particularly among young people and vulnerable communities.

“Our partners in civil society and the media have been the multiplier effect on everything this Agency does. You have taken our message into homes, schools, and communities that our uniforms alone could never reach,” Marwa said.

The NDLEA chairman said 19 NGOs and media organisations were recognised at the ceremony for their contributions to the campaign, alongside 274 personnel and 18 of the agency’s best-performing commands.

He urged the award recipients to see the recognition as an incentive to deepen their involvement in the campaign, while calling on NDLEA personnel to remain committed to confronting drug trafficking networks.

Marwa said the agency’s operations had continued to disrupt major drug networks through intelligence gathering, international cooperation and sustained enforcement.

Among the operations he highlighted was the dismantling of a drug cartel allegedly operated by Amadi Simon, whom the agency described as a billionaire drug baron in Switzerland, as well as the disruption of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine cartels operating in forests in Ogun and Oyo states.

He also cited the takedown of a tramadol cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, which he said had contributed to the opioid abuse crisis among Nigerian youths.

Marwa, however, warned that the dismantling of individual trafficking networks would not end the activities of criminal groups, describing the fight against illicit drugs as a generational responsibility.

“It is a generational responsibility. For every cartel we dismantle, intelligence tells us another will attempt to rise. For every corridor we shut down, traffickers will search for another route,” he said.

For GAIYD, the recognition is expected to further strengthen its grassroots advocacy, particularly its initiatives focused on the boy child, including efforts to promote educational participation, mentorship and support programmes.

Akpua said the organisation would use the recognition as motivation to reach more young people and communities with messages on the dangers of drug abuse and addiction.